Thanks to all for such a warm welcome!
Marcie, I also have four 4-legged children (actually 2 are grand-kitties: child moves to D.C. & I got her cats!). Have a wonderful cruise on Mariner!

Joanna, yes I feel very blessed to be able to offer travel opportunities to my kids. With the oldest, I seem to have opened a can of worms, though. She went around the world on the SS Universe Explorer (Semester at Sea) her jr.year & hasn't stopped. She did volunteer work in the Amazon, backpacked to Machu Pichu, taught English in Spain for 6 months, backpacked around Europe & Eastern Europe, & sweet-talked her daddy into taking her to Africa in August for a grad-school graduation present. She seems to know how to work the system! Seriously, she is very smart and has noble ambitions of making the world a better place - and I'm very proud of & thankful for all of them.

Ralph.....feels like we've been friends for years! Yes, we are going from Rome to Istanbul, & despite some sketchy things I've heard of others' experiences, I feel very positive that it will be good. The itinerary looks great, which is why I chose it initially. That combined with the casual dress & flexible meals (& high ratings on food quality is a big thing to people from South LA - we do know how to cook & eat!).

I don't know if you all are ready for this, but here goes......
My husband's name is Bubba.
Bubba from Baton Rouge. It's always a conversation piece when we travel. One lady asked once, "why would you call him that?".
He wasn't born with that name; he acquired it as a baby from a sister 13 months older. He's Arthur the third, but don't ever call him that - he won't answer! Unless you're his childhood friend named "Beau" from Lake Charles(real name John). They call each other Arthur & John, of course!

I have lots of questions I hope some of you can answer, but it's past my bedtime!

Ciao for now & yes, Ralph, FLA is always in our prayers, too (along with the entire Gulf Coast). We love the Seagrove Beach area (we so loved Destin before it was destroyed by development - been going there since we were babies!) The beach erosion is unbelievably terrible there. Every time a hurricane heads into the Gulf, we all pray it doesn't come our way - and then we start praying for those in its path. We used to rate every storm by Camille....now that's changed. It's very sobering & humbling, but coonasses & yats (admittedly I'm a WASP 3rd generation Baton Rougean, but Bubba is descended from the Nova Scotians - Acadians, i.e. Cajuns)are very stubborn, hard-working, proud people - and we like to party! So we plan on dropping our dead-beat politicians & getting this state back on track! You will see changes in Louisiana - and New Orleans will be fine, and better in a lot of ways. But we still need your travel revenue, so TA's send us your clients. We promise to show them a good time! I'll even help!
Sorry I rambled on so!
Good night!